Science is Cool....

[Fish]

This is a repository for all cool scientific discussion and fascination. Scientific facts, theories, and overall cool scientific stuff that you'd like to share with others. Stuff that makes you smile and wonder at the amazing shit going on around us, that most people don't notice.

Post pictures, vidoes, stories, or links. Ask questions. Share science.

Why should I care?:

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by KC Fish

I think you're a little confused bud. Alligators aren't getting messed up by steroids. There is some indication that other pollutants are affecting the internal sexual steroid production of male alligators. It's not causing females to grow larger, it's reducing the growth of males in some certain ways. Basically, they've found a lower plasma sex steroid level (that's naturally occurring steroids produced by the alligator's body) in males, and smaller alligator dicks from the ones in known contaminated lakes. And the contaminants are not steroids leaked in the water. They're organochlorine contaminants. Usually DDT pesticides, or some variant. The contaminants block the production of the naturally produced steroids in the alligator's body, which controls dick size.

It's not at all from steroids in our food. I'm afraid that has nothing at all to do with the situation. The only thing to get worked up about is the overuse of DDT and other organochlorines in the environment.



http://www.researchgate.net/publicat...n_Florida_(USA)

Black Bob wrong? Say it aint so!!

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by BlackBob

Here it is dude.... This is a good read from a few years back.. It freaked me out a little...

Man 1980 was a hell of a long time ago. Regulation was nothing back then. Now, like usual, the pendulum has swung to the other side.

In fact most all the ag chemicals are incredibly safe. You hear a lot about Nitrogen leach. It is a big deal, because the cornbelt puts on a shitassload and it does move. But it is so goddamn cost prohibitive now, everybody is is working to keep it from leaching. Almost all herbicides are super safe, plus you put an incredibly small amount of herbicide spread over a football field (roughly). ALS inhibitors, you apply one TENTH of a dry ounce per acre. Glyphosate, you put a pound on.

Insecticides are a bigger deal. It makes sense, the DNA of animals and humans is much closer to insects than plants. But again, regulations are off the ****ing charts for this stuff, and they are not applied nearly as heavily due to other technologies like BT corn and Veptera type products.

The reality is that the agricultural world is not even in the same ballpark it was in 1980.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower

So I can't figure this out.

If the surface of the earth is 1G, and earths gravitational pull is less the further you are from earth's surface, does that mean earth's gravitional pull increases when you go further into the surface..?

Not exactly. It has a lot to do with the mass around you right where you are. More mass around you means more gravity. When you go further into the surface, theres less Earth below you to pull down. The farther you go, the less of Earth there is below pulling you down and the more Earth mass there is above pulling up. At the center you would be weightless because there would be equal mass above and below you, canceling each other out.

[Fish]

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower

So I can't figure this out.

If the surface of the earth is 1G, and earths gravitational pull is less the further you are from earth's surface, does that mean earth's gravitional pull increases when you go further into the surface..?

Definitely. I know because one day I was digging a hole with a backhoe and when I got done I stepped off and went to the edge of the hole to look in and I slipped and fell. By the time I hit the bottom I was going real fast and when I was at the top I was going slow.

[tiptap]

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower

So I can't figure this out.

If the surface of the earth is 1G, and earths gravitational pull is less the further you are from earth's surface, does that mean earth's gravitional pull increases when you go further into the surface..?

Hogfarmer is sort of right. The traditional notion that the G field on earth gives 9.8 meters per second squared makes use of the fact ONE is outside the circumference of the earth and can therefore can place all of the mass as if it were at the center of the earth. And for a while g will increase if you are going underground. But once the amount of mass is significant over you compared to the center of the earth than g will drop. as you head to the center where there is "zero g." And technically I think the rebound back and forth through the earth should be close to orbital speed if the satellite was circling just above the holes (ignore air resistance and such)

[Fish]

Did you know that giraffes have 20 inch long blue tongues? The tongue is prehensile, and spends a lot of time hanging out so it's generally thought that the colour protects it from sunburn.

[Fish]

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by KC Fish

I hate big gravity.

[Huffmeister]

Originally Posted by KC Fish

Not exactly. It has a lot to do with the mass around you right where you are. More mass around you means more gravity. When you go further into the surface, theres less Earth below you to pull down. The farther you go, the less of Earth there is below pulling you down and the more Earth mass there is above pulling up. At the center you would be weightless because there would be equal mass above and below you, canceling each other out.

That reminds me of a question I heard/read somewhere:
If you could install a tube from one side of the earth to the other, somehow shielding it from the molten core and suck all the air out, what would happen if you jumped in one end?

The answer as explained was that you would go falling through the tube, accelerating quickly at first. You would slow down as you went through the center, but your inertia would carry you to almost the other of the tube, where you would come to a complete stop and get pulled back down. You would basically do this over and over and over, travelling a little less each time, until you were just floating in the center where the pull of the earth is the same in every direction (minus the directions of the empty tube).

I don't know if it's the correct answer, but it seems plausible and I've always wondered what it would feel like.

[Ebolapox]

Originally Posted by Huffmeister

That reminds me of a question I heard/read somewhere:
If you could install a tube from one side of the earth to the other, somehow shielding it from the molten core and suck all the air out, what would happen if you jumped in one end?

The answer as explained was that you would go falling through the tube, accelerating quickly at first. You would slow down as you went through the center, but your inertia would carry you to almost the other of the tube, where you would come to a complete stop and get pulled back down. You would basically do this over and over and over, travelling a little less each time, until you were just floating in the center where the pull of the earth is the same in every direction (minus the directions of the empty tube).

I don't know if it's the correct answer, but it seems plausible and I've always wondered what it would feel like.

is this also assuming you have a way to deal with the immense pressure and heat that are associated with going to/through the core? you know, not even mentioning the gravity of the situation (heh).

you'd die from the acceleration alone, man. your corpse would do what you hypothesize, but it's impossible to feel ANYTHING when you're dead.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

Originally Posted by h5n1

is this also assuming you have a way to deal with the immense pressure and heat that are associated with going to/through the core? you know, not even mentioning the gravity of the situation (heh).

you'd die from the acceleration alone, man. your corpse would do what you hypothesize, but it's impossible to feel ANYTHING when you're dead.

Dear Mr. Flu virus ,I think his scenerio was only hypothetical.

[Huffmeister]

Originally Posted by Hog Farmer

Dear Mr. Flu virus ,I think his scenerio was only hypothetical.

Um yeah... only hypothetical.

*starts shoveling dirt back into the hole*

[Huffmeister]

Originally Posted by h5n1

is this also assuming you have a way to deal with the immense pressure and heat that are associated with going to/through the core? you know, not even mentioning the gravity of the situation (heh).

Yeah, "somehow shielding it from the molten core and suck all the air out". Obviously it would be very hot, but let's assume you could completely insulate the tube from the heat of the core. And in a vacuum, there would be no pressure, right?

Originally Posted by h5n1

you'd die from the acceleration alone, man. your corpse would do what you hypothesize, but it's impossible to feel ANYTHING when you're dead.

Can you elaborate on the acceleration? It should just start out at 9.8m/s/s, right?

Also, I was able to find a link to the original Straight Dope article:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...ough-the-earth

According to him: Perfect vacuum == Falling back and forth forever. But throw a little air resistance in and you eventually get stuck in the center.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Huffmeister

Um yeah... only hypothetical.

*starts shoveling dirt back into the hole*

There goes the afternoon.....